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-L. G. ERICSON. sToCKING STRB'TGHER.

(No Model.)

No. 474,964f Patented May 1v, 1892.

@Mib/Lewes 4% w/ A AWK/74% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.v

LABS G. ERICSON, OFv NEV YORK, N. Y.

STOCKING-STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,954, dated May 1'?, 1892.V Application tiled December 16, 1891. Serial No. 415.247. (No model.)

T0 all whom, t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, LAEs G. EEIosoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, county of New York, and State of New York,

have made a new and useful invention in Stocking-Stretching Devices, of which lthe following is a specification.

My invention is directed particularly to improvements in stocking-stretchers; and its objects are, first, to provide a simple, cheap, and efficient means for effecting this result; second,to provide a stretcher which can be used with wet stockings and not stain them, as is often the case with stretchers having metallic attachments.

My invention will be fully understood b v referring` to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l illustrates in side elevation my improved device, and Fig. 2 isasimilar view of a preferred form thereof, designed to stretch a stocking in the direction of its length as well as its width.

The stretcher is ofthe conformation of a stocking, as shown, and is divided into` two flat-sided longitudinally.- separable parts A and B, the part B having dowels D D secured to its inner face by pins 232193, while the part A is provided with corresponding grooves or channels E E on its inner face,into which the dowels D D are adapted to fit, as shown. These grooves or channels E E are of sufficient depth and width in the direction of the length of the part A as to permit the dowels D D, attached to the part B, to turn about the part A freely,vas upon a pivot.

R R represents ratchet-teeth out in the upper end of the part B, and P is a pawl pivoted to the upper end of the part A by a pin p.

H is a hook at the upper end of the part B for hanging the device and the stocking upon a clothes line or rack, so that the stocking will dry while held on the stretcher of a spreading or expansible nature. The stocking while wet is drawn over the stretcher when the parts are in the position shown in full lines. The parts A and B are then spread at their upper ends and the pawl P placed in engagement with the ratchet-teeth R. Vhen the parts have been spread to the desired distance, as shown in dotted lines, the device is hung on part B, as shown in dotted lines, thereby stretching the stocking in the direction of its length, the pawl P, having ratchet-teeth on its back, into which the free end of pawl P will fall, and hence lock the parts in any desired position, as shown. In this the preferred form of my improved stocking-stretcher the toe portion of the upper separable part A is made to overlap the lower portion, so that when the formeris slid forward upon the latter, in the position shown in dotted lines, it will give to the stocking an increasedjength, and when in its rearward position, as shown in full lines, the two parts will snugly fit together.

I make all of tho parts of wood or other noncorrosive material, thereby avoiding the evil eifects due to the moisture in a wet stocking.

By the term separable, used heretofore in this specification and in the claims which follow, I wish to be understood as meaning two absolutely-indepel'ldent parts, which are so detachably secured together by the dowelpins D D that they may be taken absolutely apart from each other, so that the two parts of the stretcher may be laid side by side, slid into position in the stocking, then placed in position, and afterward spread by the agency of the spreading apparatus.

Of course the leg portion of the device may be of any desired length and other means than pawls may be utilized for maintaining the spread and relative location of the separable parts A and B, and I am not limited to the details herein shown and described for accom` plishingthe results claimed.

I am aware that a stocking-stretcher has heretofore been devised consisting of three parts permanently joined to each other by hinges and provided with spreading devices located in the bottom of the foot and at the top of the structure. I am also aware that a stockingframe has heretofore been devised consisting of two parts hinged permanently together by two parallel bars and provided with a ratchet and pawl for regulating the re- TOO lation of the parts, and I make no claim broad enough to include either of these structures, my claims being directed to distinctly separable parts.

Having thus described my invention, what .I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States, is

.1. A stocking-stretcher composing two separable parts A and B, said angled parts, as shown,being held together by dowels secured to the part B and grooves in the part A, one vdowel and its corresponding groove being near the toe, so as to constitute a pivot, about which the parts turn and the other like parts at a point near the center of the leg portion of the stretcher, in combination with means at the top of the two 4parts for holding them in spread position, all substantially as shown and described.

2. A stocking-stretcher made of two separable parts united by means of dowcls and elongated grooves, the. upper part having a curvedtoe portion, whereby a stocking may be stretched in the direction of its length, substantially as described.

3. A stocking-stretcher made of two separable parts united by means of doWels and elon-s gated grooves, the upper part having a curvedtoe portion, whereby a stocking may be stretched in the direction of its length, in com- 3o bination With means for holding said parts in locked position when spread, substantially as described.

4. A stocking-stretcher madeof two separable parts A and B, pivoted together by doWels 35 D and grooves E, and provided with pawls P and P and' ratchet-teeth R on the upper end of the part B, with additional ratchet-teeth upon the upper side of the pawl P, said parts being all connected together, substantially as 4o described.

LARS Gr. ERICSON.

Witnesses:

CHAS. J. KINTNER, F. GRIEssMAN. 

